April 26, 1986 - the accident in Chernobyl happened.

This catastrophe turned my life upside down. As a result of that we got some nuclear rain in the area where we live. 


FEAR! 
Our daughter was no more allowed to play in the sand in the garden, we had to throw away all our vegetables and fruits of our garden.

We were shocked and asked ourselves what kind of future will our children have? We wanted to change the world and therefore we started to work for anti nuclear organizations. 
But we did not find peace in what we were doing. So we ended in new age and meditation – we tried to find inner peace.

One of my husband’s colleagues started to leave Christian leaflets on his table. I registered changes in the life of my husband. He read in the bible daily and tried to convince me also. I called him a fanatic. One evening his colleague visited us. She told me how Jesus changed her life. I was touched by her story.

But I did not know if this is right or wrong. I remember once sitting in our leaving room having a feeling like two powers work on me. I really felt torn apart between right and wrong.

After three months of doubts I attended the bible study group of my husbands colleague. She read an article about the Holy Spirit. The article was about how the Holy Spirit can fill our life. At that very moment I knew that God was speaking to me. I started to sweat, my whole body seemed to react to this article. Now it was clear for me that Jesus is the truth. I asked Jesus to fill me with the Holy Spirit and then a deep feeling of peace and joy was in my heart.

My life and my husbands started to change. Reading the bible and praying together changed our marriage. Our communication became deeper and we learned how to forgive. 

God is with us in all circumstances of life. In 2006 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Of course there was fear in my heart. But never before I felt so close to the heart of God. Always when fear came up He sent me a person like an angel or he was encouraging me through his word. God spoke to me and my husband very often at the same time and through the same bible passages. 
I experienced Gods faithfulness and love. God carried me through this process of surgery and radiotherapy.

Living with God is an adventure. Sometimes I am surprised about the ways he is leading me. Even when I don’t understand his ways I would never like to live without God. 

Maria